Quebec’s immigration critic is criticizing the ruling Coalition Avenir Québec’s (CAQ) lack of decisive action to reduce long processing times for family sponsorships, a situation that has led to legal action against the francophone province’s immigration minister.
“Imagine waiting three years to be reunited with your spouse who is currently abroad,” said Liberal immigration critic André Morin.
“It is inhumane. These interminable delays due to the ideological stubbornness of the CAQ are unacceptable in a welcoming society like Quebec.
“The CAQ government needs to go into settlement mode and reach an agreement with Ottawa because we’re dealing with human beings here.”
The National Assembly member’s comments follow a lawsuit launched by an immigration lawyer against the government, in which he challenges the provincial government’s entire handling of the immigration portfolio since 2018.
Read more
Canada issues 1,470 invitations to apply (ITAs) under the lottery of all programs
Applicants for OINP Immigration must submit the Application Consent Form
Caps On Canada Study allows an open instrument, says education expert
That immigration lawyer argues that the Canada-Quebec Agreement, an agreement between the federal and provincial governments that defines how immigration matters should be handled in Quebec, does not allow the francophone province the right to place a limit on family sponsorships.
Although there are 38,400 Quebeckers waiting to be reunited with their loved ones, the province is currently accepting only a maximum of 10,600 per year.
This means that at the current processing rate for family sponsorships in Canada, it will take three years for those applications to be processed. In the rest of the country, these issues are resolved within a year.
The Liberals in Quebec are demanding that the province process all these family sponsorship applications within the next two years.
Watch the video
“Why does a spousal sponsorship application take three times longer in Quebec than in the rest of the country?” Morin asks.
“Through its chaotic and ideological management of immigration, the CAQ has created two classes of citizens in Canada. We are proposing that the minister put in place a 24-month plan to clear the waiting list and eventually allow these 38,400 Quebecers to be reunited with their families.”
Quebec Premier François Legault has repeatedly stated that he will hold the line on immigration and made it clear that his government is deeply committed to ensuring the survival of the French language.
Quebec’s premier is holding the line on immigration
The premier has gone so far as to table proposals to limit all economic immigration to the province to French-speaking immigrants by 2026.
“As premier of Quebec, my first responsibility is to protect our language and our identity,” Legault said. “For the past few years, the French language has been in decline in Quebec. Since 2018, our government has acted to protect our language, more than any previous government since the passage of Bill 101 under the Levesque government.
“But if we want to turn the tide, we have to do more. By 2026, our goal is to have almost entirely francophone economic immigration. We have the duty, as Québécois, to speak French, to convey our culture every day and to be proud of it.”
Temporary workers who come to the province on work permits and international students in Quebec who are there on study permits often later seek to immigrate to Canada through or from the federal state. Express Entry of the system Federal Skilled Worker program (FSW), Federally qualified trade (FST) program and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) or Provincial candidate programs (PNP) of the provinces.
